Lash the Wolf
A master swordsman and blacksmith, dedicating his life to practice and teach martial arts. He is the descendant of a respected family, whose members included disciplined warriors, martial art masters and warlords. Early life Lash had many interests when he was young, including history, archeology, painting, and wood- and leatherworking, but he didn't become a master of any of these professions. He even wanted to become an explorer to research the undiscovered depths of Mystic Ruins. At that time, it was uncertain whether he'd follow the family's tradition of serious devotion to martial arts, until he ultimately settled to specialize in smithing and wielding swords. Thus, Lash had the chance to shine his natural crafting abilities, while also studying the history of swords and practicing martial arts. Lash learned the ways of forging and proper treatment of swords, and when he wasn't at the forgery, he took fencing lessons to polish his swordsmanship. Reputation as a blacksmith As with everything, the first step was the hardest, but thanks to his natural aptitude, dedication, and obligation to his teachers, Lash became a proficient blacksmith. He became skilled enough to be able to craft not only high quality swords, but other metal objects ranging from handguards to iron hinges. Lash soon decided to make a business out of smithing. His works rivalled other talented blacksmiths' creations, thus Lash gained not only customers, but adversaries alike, who were also making a living by forging metal. One day, a rider in horse races appeared at Lash's workshop. He had heard of Lash's remarkable smithing abilities and requested the wolf to craft horseshoes for his beloved Thoroughbred stallion. Lash accepted the offer, and began fabricating the horseshoes. However, the horseshoes Lash had worked on so much and presented to the rider were secretly replaced with seemingly okay, but actually very poor quality horseshoes by a rival of Lash, just before shoeing the stallion. Lash was surprised to hear that the racing horse finished at the very last place, nearly breaking its leg during the race. Blaming himself and not knowing about the mischief, Lash swore not to make another horseshoe for the rest of his life. Project GUNto Lash's reputation piqued the military's interest as well. Officers of GUN (Guardian Units of Nations) have been well-equipped with firearms, but they were in need of close-range weapons to add to their arsenal and train their soldiers to use them. Lash was asked to develop a type of military sword to be mass-produced and issued to GUN soldiers. The wolf accepted GUN's request and gladly offered his help to develop a long blade that would help the soldiers protect the nations and preserve order. With the cooperation of GUN's researchers, Lash produced three indentical fine quality swords to be mass-produced. They were named GUNto, a reference to another name of military swords. Even though mass-producing swords based on samples is not the same as crafting weapons individually, the result of the mass-production still satisfied GUN's demands. Other than the original three, each sword has it own unique sequence of numbers engraved in its blade. Each of the original three swords are at separate locations: one of them was given to GUN, the other remained at Lash's dojo and the third one was passed down to Martin the Cougar, Lash's disciple. Martial arts He had practiced and became familiar with different styles, including Aikido and Iaido, until being concerned about the usability of these styles in a real battle. Lash finally decided to become a practitioner of Shinkendo, a more straightforward fencing style. Through years of training, he had become eligible to receive an instructor's, and later a master's title. He began to teach swordsmanship to those willing to master the art. Though volunteering students came and went, Lash's most loyal and reliable disciple has been Martin the Cougar. Lash offered extensive training and accommodation to Martin. In return for his master's generosity, the cougar took care of various chores and tasks assigned by Lash, without questioning his master's will. Lash had also befriended masters and village elders as well, and occasionally sends his own students to them, to make them familiarize themselves with other aspects of life. Despite being a strict instructor, Lash believes that training endlessly without interruption is poison for the mind, body and soul. Taking breaks regularly is a vital part of learning, as it allows the mind to comprehend the newly learned information, he says. While he practices martial arts every day to keep himself in good shape both physically and mentally, he only holds hard training sessions to his students about three times a week. He spends the rest of his time running his smithing business, forging blades and other metallic objects. Personality Strict, but caring – these are the best words to describe Lash's personality. When teaching martial arts, he accepts no failure or partial results. His methods of training might seem grueling or even sadistic to some, Lash is in fact very aware of his students' limits. He observes them carefully, memorizing their strengths and weaknesses and creates a specific training plan according to his observations. Lash really cares for his students, but he's sometimes mistaken to be reckless and disregardful. Only the most determined practitioners are able to live to Lash's seemingly high expectations. Though Lash is a generally serious person, he has a good sense of humour, as well. A weakness of Lash is that he likes to have his voice heard, often talking about whatever he has on his mind. He enjoys exchanging stories with his fellow masters and trusted disciples. The wolf knows a lot of folk stories, including tales of a mysterious oak tree deep within Maple Forest. Surprisingly, he's also interested not only in traditional legends and fables, but modern conspiracy theories as well. Lash is most irritated by people who are careless, unwilling to concentrate and learn with full dedication. The wolf isn't angry when his students make a mistake, but when they make the same mistakes multiple times. As a martial artist, he doesn't mind repeating himself to explain things, as long as his efforts of making things clear aren't in vain. The Cirsiumenian Invasion WARNING: Possible Spoilers follow. All details of the Cirsuimenian Invasion are subject to change. Lash hadn't heard of the news of the invasion until Martin's return. Though he was glad that his student was able to prove himself in fierce battle situations, the wolf was also shocked how Martin had nearly destroyed his sword, the very same that was one of the three original GUNto swords. Therefore, Lash forbid him to carry a real sword until his authorization and forced Martin to wield a wooden sword, instead. Quotes *“Go on, continue!” *“A true warrior's desire is to die in battle.” *“Train every day, without neglect.” *“I ought to congratulate you for making it back alive, but I should also slap you for not taking care of your sword.” *"History is written by the victors." *"Cry in the dojo, laugh on the battlefield." *"A great deal of our lives is nothing but stultifying routine." Trivia *Lash is TMartin3000's third fancharacter, inspired by one of Emerald Haze's drawings. It was also Haze's idea to follow the naming principle of Sonic canon characters and give the character a name that is somehow connected to his personality. *Lash was originally meant to be a character of Kaiton origin and appear in the planned Kaito RP. *Lash's family's treasure is a sword bearing the name “Zantetsuken”. It is said to be capable of cutting through steel. *His preferred choice of drink is green tea. *Lash is annoyed by the so-called "hobby gardeners". The wolf highly respects farmers and workers of the field, but is irritated by people working in small gardens, growing measly plants with an inconsiderable amount of fruits or vegetables. *He's also quite fond of playing card games, especially a game called Sixty-Six. However, he's nowhere near as addicted to gambling as Thorn the Squirrel. Category:Characters